Fractured Fate
by tsukikitty
Summary: Team Gai is sent on a C-rank mission and is ambushed. Tenten gets knocked out, and when she wakes up she finds that her teammates are gone... NejixTen, slightly Tenten-centric. SORRY GUYS, HIATUS. I FAIL TOO HARD.
1. Prologue

AAARGH! i'm so so so so SO sorry, but I honestly don't know where to go with this anymore. for that reason, i must dub it "on hiatus". I'M SORRYYY

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i'm sort of making this up as i go along, so i hope it's not too bad. xD please enjoy!

Disclaimer: -sigh- if i owned Naruto, would i be sitting here writing stuff on _fan fiction . net_? i think not.

**Fractured Fate**

**Prologue**

"Gai, I'm sending your squad on a C-rank mission." Gai stared at the Hokage for a second or two, then began to cheer. "YES! Oh, they're so ready for this! My beautiful students will take on this mission and complete it with total ease and perfection!" Tsunade heaved a sigh. "Yeah, sure. Anyway, I'm assigning them to deliver a package to Mr. Saitou Shinji in the Tea Country. It should be pretty easy, but there are a few people after him who will probably want to get their hands on the package. They'll be leaving tomorrow at noon."

The next day at exactly twelve o' clock p.m., Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten gathered together by the Konoha village gate. Each of them was wearing a long-distance radio connected to an attachment worn around their necks. Gai's voice was coming out of them.

"Alright, team! Go out and show the world what you can do! I'm counting on you three!" As their sensei's voice crackled out, the team set off.

Neji, who had been appointed team leader, had the package put away safely inside his bag. "So," he said as the three genin jumped through a grove of trees, "we'll take turns holding the package. After an hour I'll give it to Lee and then an hour later he'll give it to Tenten." The other two nodded in agreement.

After a few hours they came to a pathway lined by trees on either side, heading over a hill towards their destination. By this time Lee had the package for the second time. They were all exhausted and decided to rest in a small, open area a little ways off the path. They sat down and Neji got out their lunches. Lee was handing him the package and Tenten was trying to contact Gai through her radio.

"Gai-sensei? Gai-sensei? ...Jeez, he's not responding." Neji put the package away in his bag and then tried his radio, also with no luck. "There must be something wrong with our radios," Neji said, standing up. He activated his Byakugan and looked around the area. Suddenly his eyes narrowed. "We're being watched." Almost before the words left his mouth, a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it flew towards them. They all quickly moved as it landed in Lee's curry and exploded. As the three drew their weapons, a group of about ten ninja appeared in front of them. Their forehead protectors indicated that they were from the Hidden Rock Village.

"Hello, kiddies," one of them said in a shrill, raspy voice. "We're chuunin from the Village Hidden in the Rocks, and we've been sent to take you down." He lunged at Lee and the others followed suit, going for Neji and Tenten. Soon each genin had three or four chuunin surrounding them, attacking from all sides.

Eventually, after four of the Rock ninja had been knocked out, the one who seemed to be the leader motioned to the rest of them and they all jumped back. "Well, well, this group is pretty good, wouldn't you say?" he said with a smirk. "Why yes, they are," another cackled. "I think it might be time to pull out the big guns." They all began to laugh. Neji, Lee, and Tenten looked at each other worriedly. They were already extremely worn out; the chuunin were highly skilled, and the genin could barely hold their own against them as it was. But now their attackers were talking about stepping up their game?

Tenten reached in her pack for a scroll, but Neji put up his hand to stop her. "Don't bring that out just yet," he whispered. Tenten began to protest but was interrupted by a loud click. She, Neji, and Lee turned to see, to their horror, that their enemies had taken off what had appeared to be gloves to reveal that their forearms were full of holes.

"What…what are you…?!" Lee asked, shocked. The chuunin just laughed. "You'll find out soon enough." Again they started to attack, but their movements were different. They were faster, sharper, harder to follow… "Augh!" Neji was hit hard by one of them and fell to the ground. Lee and Tenten, who had both looked over to see what had happened, now turned back around too slow and were hit as well. None of the injuries were serious, though, and all three got quickly back to their feet, ready to fight again.

The battle raged on for what seemed like an eternity. Six of the ten chuunin were down now, but the four remaining were fighting with all they had. Neji, Tenten, and Lee were barely able to stand, let alone defend themselves. Tenten, who had the least amount of chakra left, was struggling to even move, and she had two ninja attacking her simultaneously which wasn't helping matters. As one continued to assail from the front, the second disappeared.

_'Oh no,'_, Tenten said to herself, '_the other one…where did he--?!' _Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her back. The missing ninja had slipped to behind her and used some sort of ninjutsu, directed toward her back. She let out a scream and collapsed.

"_TENTEN!_"

When she woke up, Tenten was lying in the same spot where she had passed out. She was in intense pain. Slowly sitting up, she looked around. The area was strewn with kunai knives and shuriken, and blood was spattered all over the ground and surrounding trees. Her teammates were nowhere to be seen.

"The sun is setting…I need to get back to the village…" She stood up with much difficulty, using a nearby tree for support. The last thing she remembered was seeing Lee and Neji fighting…and losing… She cringed. What had happened to them? Her head spinning, she headed back toward the path to the village.

**oOo**

thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it! reviews are uber loved!


	2. Chapter 1

chapter one is finally up! thanks for waiting so patiently, everyone! enjoy!

Disclaimer: i do not, i repeat, DO NOT, own Naruto or any of its characters. pssh.

**Fractured Fate**

**Chapter 1**

Two years later, Tenten stood outside the Hokage's office, waiting patiently for Shizune or Tsunade to call her in. She was looking out over the village when she heard Tsunade address her.

"Tenten, please come in." She did as she was told and entered the office. Tsunade sat with her elbows on her desk, her chin resting on her hands. There were papers scattered all over the room. Shizune was standing behind her, Ton-ton in her arms.

"Well," Tsunade said, looking up at the fifteen-year-old girl in front of her, "I'll get right to the point. I'm sending you on another search for Neji Hyuuga and Rock Lee. We have already informed your teammates…they should be here soon." Tenten clenched both hands into fists and took a deep breath.

Ever since that day, when Neji and Lee had gone missing, she had been training with Kurenai Yuuhi's squad. At first it had been temporary; since she no longer had a team, she was put on Kurenai's squad until something more permanent was figured out. However, after seeing how well she worked with the team, it was decided that she would continue working with them. Hinata's fighting style was similar to Neji's, so Tenten adapted easily to sparring with her. After training together for two years, they had both become much stronger and were now extremely close friends.

"Ah, here they are now." Tenten turned to see Kiba, Hinata and Shino standing in the doorway.

Tenten smiled at her friends as they made their way in, but her smile slowly faded. "Wait," she said, a bit hesitantly, "no jounin?" She glanced at Tsunade unsurely.

Tsunade sighed. "You really should be led by a jounin, but everyone seems to be extremely busy right now. My original intentions were to have Gai go with you, but unfortunately he's away on a mission as well. You're just going to have to do your best without a jounin leading you." She was now speaking to all four shinobi in front of her. "Do your best," she repeated, "and good luck."

**oOo**

As she watched the group leave, Tsunade heaved another, heavier sigh. She was worried about this one. It had been two years since the incident… _'I wonder if they're even still…?'_ As if reading her thoughts, Shizune suddenly spoke.

"Tsunade-sama…" Tsunade raised her head slightly to show that she was listening, but did not turn to face her. "Don't get me wrong, I know that Lee and Neji were two of the most skilled genin in the village," she said, and buried the bottom half of her face into Ton-ton's back, "but…honestly…it's been _two years_. Don't you think that, if they were still able, they would've returned to the village by now…?"

Tsunade grimaced. "Yeah, well…we need to at least try to have hope. Especially for that girl…Tenten…she blames herself, you know."

Shizune frowned into Ton-ton's vest. "Yeah…"

**oOo**

The group wasn't scheduled to leave for another week, giving them all time to train and prepare for the mission. Since it was still early, Tenten and Hinata had decided to head to their usual training grounds and spar for a while.

"Hah!" Tenten flung yet another barrage of weaponry at her partner, who quickly deflected it and prepared to counter-attack. After deflecting most of the weapons, she jumped up and landed behind Tenten, who spun around too late and was thrown backward by Hinata's fist. Hinata started toward her but soon realized that that was the wrong move; the figure lying in front of her suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Before she could locate the real Tenten she was grabbed by the arm and pushed to the ground, a kunai at her throat.

"Too slow," Tenten smirked, letting go of her opponent and helping her up.

"Wow, Tenten, that was really good!" Hinata brushed herself off and the two walked over to a nearby tree to take a break. She rummaged in her bag and pulled out two water bottles, throwing one to Tenten.

"Thanks," she said, catching it and twisting the cap off, "You did well, too, Hinata!"

She leaned against the tree and took a long drink. Removing the bottle from her lips, she looked over at Hinata. To her surprise, she looked suddenly worried…almost sad.

"Hinata? Is something wrong?"

"Tenten…about the mission…do you really think we'll succeed?" She bit her lip and looked at the ground. Tenten's expression darkened slightly. There had been numerous attempts to find and bring back Neji and Lee over the past two years, and all had been fruitless.

"Don't worry," Tenten replied after a few moments. "I can't say I'm completely confident myself, but we just need to believe that we can do this. Neji and Lee…they're two of the strongest people I've ever met. They're still alive, I know it, and we'll find them. We'll give it our all…right?" She smiled at Hinata, who looked up to meet her gaze. She returned the smile a bit hesitantly.

"Yes…yes, you're right. I shouldn't be talking like that. I'm sorry."

Tenten shook her head. "Don't be. All of us are feeling like that…we all have doubts in our minds. But…" She looked up at the sky, a kind of far-off look in her eyes. "I think, somehow, that this time will be different from the rest."

They were silent for a moment as they both sat there, deep in thought. Finally, Tenten spoke again, pushing herself away from the tree.

"Well, should we continue training?"

Hinata smiled and nodded, standing up. "Yes!"

**oOo**

After a week of intense training and preparation, Tenten, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and Tsunade gathered together at the Konoha village gates. Once they were all there, Tsunade cleared her throat.

"Alright, you four. I'm sure you all know this already, but this mission will be intense. It's going to be hard, but you're going to have to stick it out." She looked at the group, her expression fiery. Somehow, her eyes seemed to meet each of theirs at the same time as she spoke. "You've been training for the past week so that you can do your absolute best on this mission. You'd all better be ready!"

Tenten nodded with the rest of her teammates.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama. As fellow shinobi of the village of Konoha, we will bring Neji Hyuuga and Rock Lee back!"

**oOo**

thanks so much for reading! please review!


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